Amy Buckner Chowdhry

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Co-Founder

For more than 15 years, Amy has been on a mission to deliver trusted user experience insights to help the world’s leading brands build better digital products. As CEO of AnswerLab, Amy drives the organization to fulfill its vision and strategic plan, cultivates the talent pool, and oversees financial operations. Amy’s insights can now be found at Inc.com, where she writes a column called “User Experience Matters.”

In 2011, Amy was the first CEO from the user experience research industry to be named by Ernst & Young as one of 10 “Entrepreneurial Winning Women.” The San Francisco Business Times also recognized her as one of their “40 Under 40: Emerging Leaders” for 2011.

Before co-founding AnswerLab, Amy served as Director of Professional Services at Vividence (now Keynote), the leading provider of online UX research software. In her tenure, Amy led development of the company’s automotive vertical and West Coast research practice. Amy was previously Manager of User Experience at SmartPlanet, where she translated business needs into user experience requirements for the online learning community. Early in her career, she also managed website development for a boutique management consulting firm and consulted with the Ministry of Education for three years in Hokkaido, Japan.

Amy speaks frequently at national conferences and educational institutions. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude from Vanderbilt University with a degree in English and East Asian Studies. Amy currently serves on the Advisory Council of Susan G. Komen for the Cure San Francisco, as past president of the board.

Dan Clifford

Chief Experience Officer and Co-Founder

Dan has been building successful client relationships at industry-leading companies for more than 20 years. At AnswerLab, Dan oversees the overall client experience, manages marketing operations and ensures the firm is attracting some of the best talent in the industry.

Before co-founding AnswerLab, Dan served as Director of Strategic Alliances at Vividence Corporation (now Keynote Systems), a provider of online research products and services. He was instrumental in the launch of two new research offerings, and developed and managed relationships with research teams at Fortune 500 companies. Earlier in his career, Dan served as Director of Strategic Alliances for Career Central (later acquired by Spencer Stuart), where he built key partnerships and an award-winning affiliate program. Dan also consulted with Fortune 500 clients while working at Digital Equipment Corporation and Renaissance Worldwide, a leading information technology consulting firm.

Dan graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude from Brown University with degrees in Psychology and Organizational Behavior and Management. He earned an MBA degree with honors from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

Pat Fleck

Chief Financial Officer

Pat has been providing strategic leadership to growth companies for 30 years. At AnswerLab, Pat runs the finance function and works closely with the co-founders to drive AnswerLab’s strategic plan. Having spent his entire career in services industries, Pat understands that the key to long-term business success is maintaining a sharp focus on satisfying client goals. As a result, he ensures that AnswerLab’s activities are aligned to result in outstanding service delivery.

Prior to joining AnswerLab, Pat was Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at a leading Bay Area insurance broker, Sitzmann Morris & Lavis, where he managed the finance and accounting functions through the firm’s sale to publicly-traded Brown and Brown. Pat also brings experience in technology and innovation from his tenure as President of Cooper, a leading design and strategy firm. Pat spearheaded Cooper’s growth strategy, which led to a tripling of revenues in two years. Pat began his career as a CPA with a national accounting firm, and he spent many years with leading financial services firms, such as Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase, overseeing numerous process improvement initiatives and growth strategies, both organic and acquisition-focused.

Pat graduated at the top of his class with a degree in Accounting from California State University, Sacramento. He earned an MBA from MIT’s Sloan School of Management, where he was a Sloan Fellow.